Tengami (PC) Review

By Luna Eriksson 28.01.2015

Review for Tengami on PC

There are games where the journey is the goal, where witnessing the surroundings while playing through them is the true pleasure. Tengami is one such title where the actual voyage is everything. Tengami is one of those simple and short indie titles that from a gameplay perspective would be considered weak. However, they turn out to be some of the finer games in the genre. They are the sort that prove videogames can be an art form. With its unique and beautiful style, Nyamyam's Tengami shows why videogames might be so much more than games. After high praise in its iOS and Wii U eShop formats, Cubed3 now looks at the Steam release on PC.

Tengami is built around an art concept, from which the graphics are built. The gameplay is also built around that concept. In fact, the entire world is built around that concept… and it is beautiful. When starting up Tengami, it starts by opening the pop-up book in which the adventure takes place. The entire title takes place in an origami pop-up book. It is beautiful, it is ingenious, and it is simple. It is perfect.

The graphical style is very well chosen and the everything revolves around that. The puzzles are solved by moving the paper environments in a way that would make the Paper Mario games jealous about the use of paperwork-based game mechanics. It doesn't take too long until the 'paperscape' feels completely natural to navigate through.

The puzzles themselves might appear a little simple and will most often not stand in the way of gamers for long, but this is actually a blessing because, while the puzzles are simple, being repetitive would just kill the joy of them as the entire point are the animations that occurs when solving said puzzles.

Screenshot for Tengami on PC

One issue, though, is that some of conundrums are very unclear in terms of what to do and others are downright annoying, especially towards the finale. At the end of the game there are a couple of puzzles that require passwords to crack. It is sadly not too obvious how to find out what said password is and it might take a long time and way too many backtracks to figure out exactly what to do, which is a nuisance in an otherwise smooth game. Luckily, this just occurs towards the end and it is, therefore, forgivable.

What contributes strongly to Tengami is its atmosphere, mixing simple puzzles and beautiful surroundings perfectly. Tengami is a very calming experience and is very seldom frustrating, except maybe at the password puzzle parts, as mentioned. It is, however, a very short experience, the sort of game that is meant to be played through in one sitting, and it is painfully obvious as there is no way to save progress. This prevents it from being a good " five minutes game." While Tengami is a title best experienced in one go, it is disappointing that it does not offer the option, just for anyone wanting to take a break halfway into it in order to rest.

Another issue with Tengami for PC is that it is a game intended to be played on a touch screen. Almost all of the puzzles require the player to slide different objects on the screen, which is not too bad with mouse and keyboard, but clearly a mechanic is better suited to use of a finger (iOS) or stylus (Wii U eShop) as the feel is much purer there and a lot more natural and calm than having to precisely move the mouse around. It is nothing too horrible but it does slightly spoil the feel and atmosphere Tengami tries to create.

Screenshot for Tengami on PC

Cubed3 Rating

8/10
Rated 8 out of 10

Great - Silver Award

Rated 8 out of 10

Tengami offers a great visual experience that is truly worth experiencing. Its graphical style and how it entwines into the gameplay elements is truly and unquestionably of high artistic value and something that has to be experienced to be understood. Nyamyam's Tengami creates a very meditative atmosphere, in a beautiful way, that is truly a wonder to experience. While it is short and some puzzles towards the end might be a little annoying, overall it is a very fun and fluid experience well worth attention if looking for a beautiful puzzle title.

Developer

Nyamyam

Publisher

Nyamyam

Genre

Adventure

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  8/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

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